Apparently, Amazon won't fight the publishing industry on the issue of whether the Kindle 2's text-to-speech function violates copyright. The retailer, which makes the popular Kindle electronic-book reader, announced that the company is modifying systems to allow authors and publishers to decide whether to enable Kindle's text-to-speech function on a per-title basis.
Facebook Asks Users to Help Create "Bill of Rights"
Facebook, angling to turn a recent user rebellion to its own advantage, called upon the users themselves to help formulate what has been portrayed as a kind of "bill of rights" to govern the social-networking giant. The proposed "Facebook Principles" cover such topics as the "freedom to share and connect," "fundamental equality" and "ownership and control of information."
ISPs Increasing Efforts to Control Bandwidth
Internet service providers like AT&T are making greater efforts to manage traffic on their networks as they seek ways to avoid congestion caused by bandwidth-hogging services like video, industry officials said. Network management of Internet traffic has become a flash point between companies and public interest groups which worry that companies will become the arbiter of what is important or discriminate against certain applications or content.
Spammers Returning to Instant Messaging
After years of ignoring instant messaging, spammers are returning to IM en masse as yet another way to make money, security researchers say. The result is "spim" -- spam over IM. "The global economy is affecting everybody, including those who spim and spam," Don DeBolt, director of threat research operations at CA's research laboratory, told InternetNews.com.
Facebook, MySpace Confront New Security Issues
Facebook and MySpace were dealing with several new security issues that could expose personal information and communications from friends. Facebook said it had removed a new rogue application that was spamming users and exposing their information.
Supreme Court Rules for AT&T in ISP Antitrust Suit
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled for AT&T in the company's antitrust dispute with an Internet service provider over prices for high-speed Internet access. The court reversed a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had ruled the telecom company was setting its wholesale prices so high that an Internet service provider could not compete with the low prices AT&T charged in the retail market.
Judge Orders Defendant to Decrypt Hard Drive
A federal judge has ordered a criminal defendant to decrypt his hard drive by typing in his PGP passphrase so prosecutors can view the unencrypted files, a ruling that raises serious concerns about self-incrimination in an electronic age. In an abrupt reversal, U.S. District Judge William Sessions in Vermont ruled that Sebastien Boucher, who a border guard claims had child porn on his Alienware laptop, does not have a Fifth Amendment right to keep the files encrypted.
File-Sharing Blamed for 30% Drop in Music Sales
The music industry has lost more than 30 percent in sales since 2001 because of illegal downloading, a top industry official said, giving evidence in a Swedish trial. John Kennedy, the head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, told the Stockholm District Court that Swedish site The Pirate Bay had become "the No. 1 source of illegal music," following court actions against two other popular file-sharing sites, Grokster and Kazaa.
EMI Music Joins Lawsuit Against SeeqPod
EMI Music Group, with subsidiary Capitol Records, has joined in the lawsuit against Internet music search engine SeeqPod, joining Warner Music Group which originally took action last January. sEMI has also expanded the scope of the dispute by naming several SeeqPod employees and investors as defendants, not just the company itself.
McKinnon Won't Face Criminal Charges in U.K.
The Crown Prosecution Service has decided it will not prosecute self-confessed NASA hacker Gary McKinnon in the U.K., edging him closer to extradition to the U.S. McKinnon's diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome, a condition on the autistic spectrum, had not been taken into account in the decision, a Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said.
Australia Drops Internet Blocking Legislation
The Australian government's plan to introduce mandatory Internet censorship has effectively been scuttled, following an independent senator's decision to join the Greens and Opposition in blocking any legislation required to get the scheme started. The Opposition's communications spokesman Nick Minchin has obtained independent legal advice saying that if the Government is to pursue a mandatory filtering regime "legislation of some sort will almost certainly be required".
Study Says U.S. Could Raise $52 Billion if Gambling Ban Lifted
The United States could raise nearly $52 billion in revenue over the next decade by lifting a three-year-old ban on Internet gambling and taxing the activity instead, according to a study. Gambling supporters hope the new analysis prepared by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers will help propel efforts in Congress this year to repeal the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
Intel Files Suit to Allow Use of "Netbook" Trademark
Intel has filed for a declaratory judgment against Psion Teklogix in order to continue using the term "Netbook" generically. The legal filing also revealed, as a separate matter, that Google would prohibit search advertisements that include the term "netbook."
Google Joins EU Antitrust Suit Against Microsoft
Google Inc. is joining forces with European regulators in an attack on Microsoft Corp.'s dominance of the Web browser market, injecting more bad blood between two of computing's most powerful companies. The latest assault on Microsoft's Internet Explorer comes as Google is trying to expand the use of its own Web browser, the 6-month-old Chrome.
Microsoft Files Patent Suits Against GPS Company
Microsoft said that it is filing two separate patent infringement actions against the GPS navigation company TomTom. In complaints before the U.S. District Court in Washington and the International Trade Commission, Microsoft is alleging infringement of eight patents.
British Officials Opposing NASA Hacker's Extradition
Support is building in the British Parliament and from legal experts for self-confessed NASA hacker Gary McKinnon to be tried in the U.K. Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile of Berriew, Queen's Counsel, the independent reviewer of Britain's antiterror laws, said that McKinnon's diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome, a condition on the autistic spectrum, means he should be tried in Britain rather than in the U.S.
Microsoft Warns of Attacks on Excel Security Hole
Attackers are attempting to exploit an unpatched security hole in Excel that could allow someone to take control of a compromised computer, Microsoft said in a security advisory. The attack exploiting the Excel Unspecified Remote Code Execution Vulnerability requires a computer user to open an attachment sent via e-mail that has a maliciously crafted Excel document, according to the advisory.
Teens Online More Prone to Aggressiveness, Study Says
Teenagers who are preoccupied with their Internet time may be more prone to aggressive behavior, researchers reported. In a study of more than 9,400 Taiwanese teenagers, the researchers found that those with signs of Internet "addiction" were more likely to say they had hit, shoved or threatened someone in the past year.
India Orders Foreign VoIP Services Blocked
The Indian Department of Telecom has issued orders to block Internet telephony services being offered by around 39 foreign firms in the country. All the Internet Service Providers have been asked to block these Web sites since Indian laws permit only licensed operators to offer Net telephony services.
Facebook User Steals Customer's Laptop at Starbucks
Sheriff's officers said a 19-year-old man snatched a Starbucks customer's laptop after being told he could not use it to check his Facebook account. According to officers, the man then grabbed the customer's laptop and ran out of the coffee shop, located in an outlet mall.
